


White Ink

by Sachiela



Series: Voltron Secret Santa Make-up Gifts [9]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura is a little shit and I love writing her in stuff like this, First Meeting, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, Voltron Secret Santa 2018, tattoo artist keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 06:31:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18805645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sachiela/pseuds/Sachiela
Summary: Lance takes Hunk's recommendation to check out a particular tattoo parlor to get his first tattoo. And might leave with both a new tattoo and a date.





	White Ink

**Author's Note:**

> For midnightseashell14 on Tumblr
> 
> You requested, "tattoo artist keith and lance being a first time customer" and that has actually been a prompt I've wanted to write for ages, so this one just dumped itself on the page. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> (Note: I have never been in a tattoo parlor myself, so I guessed on a few things. Apologies for any inaccuracies.)

The bell chimes as Lance walks into the parlor, surprised at how well lit it is. Not too bright, but definitely enough to see that the place is clean and well organized. If the back looks even remotely as good as the front, he can see why Hunk recommended the place. 

“Hello, can I help you?” a posh voice asks and his gaze slips over to the counter, where a frankly beautiful woman is sitting, posture perfectly straight. She looks like she should be a model, not a receptionist.

He steps over quickly and puts on his most charming smile, even if he doesn’t mean to flirt with her. It’s just to cover up his nerves. “Hi, yeah, I’m Lance and my buddy Hunk recommend this place. I was hoping you guys would be okay with a walk-in.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Lance,” she says in a pleasant tone. “I’m Allura and I’m glad to hear Hunk is recommending us to others. He’s always so nice when he comes by. Will this be your first tattoo?”

“Yeah, wasn’t sure if that was obvious,” Lance replies, stuffing his hands in his pockets a little sheepishly.

Allura shakes her head. “No, nothing like that. We just like to make sure you know what to expect going in. Those that have multiple tattoos obviously don’t need to hear the same lecture from us, even if some of them could benefit from it. If you have some spare time, I’d like to go over everything with you and talk about what kind of design you’re looking for and then see who might be available for the amount of time needed depending on the complexity of the piece.”

“No worries, I figured there’d be design talk at the very least before getting started. I’m in no rush.” He takes the seat across from her as she pulls out a pamphlet, taking the time to go over the services they offer and basic care information for new tattoos. Some of it he knew first hand from Hunk, having helped him take care of the massive piece of artwork across his back when he’d gotten it done in college, but other bits were completely new, including some of the new care products available that hadn’t been even just a few years ago.

When Allura asks if he has any questions about it, he shakes his head. “If you do think of anything or have any concerns after you get your tattoo done, please don’t hesitate to call us. Now, let’s talk designs.”

Lance slips a folded piece of paper out of his pocket, wincing when he realizes just how wrinkled it is, but he hopes it will do. “I was wondering about white ink, actually. I know it fades over time, but I thought it would look really nice?”

“White ink does fade over time, but you can always get it redone if needed. And it’s possible a more permanent solution will be available before too long. Until then, though, there shouldn’t be any issues. If you’re just wanting the outline like this, it should only take about an hour or so.” She opens up a program on her computer and skims through it. “Oh, perfect. Keith is actually free for the next couple hours, so you could get this done right now.”

“Yeah, let’s do that.” Lance doesn’t want to risk losing his nerve at all.

She nods, marking something on the program and walks over to the door leading to the back, opening it wide enough to call out, “Keith, there’s a cute boy up here wanting his first tattoo if you’re available to help him.”

“You didn’t say that you thought I was cute,” Lance teases, hearing footsteps stomping up to the front.

Allura lifts her left hand, showing off her ring. “Not for me, honey. But Keith is still sadly single if you’re interested.”

The one stomping barges into the waiting room with a scowl, and even then he’s probably the prettiest guy he’s ever seen. “Allura, will you  _ please _ stop trying to set me up with customers?”

“I wouldn’t have to if you would stop complaining about being single every night we close together,” Allura quips back, smiling wider. 

Keith sighs, rubbing a hand down his face, before turning to Lance. “Do you have a design already in mind?” 

“Yeah, um,” Lance grabs the paper off the counter and hands it over to Keith, taking note of the impressive sleeves going up and down his own arms. “I was thinking a black outline with blue and white ink for the water, if that works?”

“That’s fine,” Keith murmurs, looking the design over carefully and nodding. “Who drew that for you? It’s pretty good.”

Lance flushes. “My little sister did, actually. She helped me out when none of my sketches came anywhere close to what I wanted.”

Handing back the drawing, Keith opens the door to the back. “Well, she did a great job at getting a really workable concept for this. It might look a little different on skin, just because of how this all works, but it’ll be pretty close if you’re cool with that?”

“That’s totally fine, no worries.” Lance follows Keith to his station, walled off for privacy from the other workers. He can hear someone else working and chatting happily and smiles at the relaxed atmosphere. 

He looks back at Keith to find the shorter male watching him with a slight blush across his cheeks. Oh. Maybe Allura knew a bit more than she had let on. Deciding to test the waters a bit, Lance rolls up his sleeves. “So...where do you want me?”

The way Keith sputters and turns bright red shouldn’t be as endearing as it is, but, well, nothing for it, really. “Depends on where you want this done. It looks like it’s for your arm?”

“Was thinking the inside of my forearm, yeah, if that works?”

Keith gestures to the chair, gathering supplies. “Then just sit normally and lift up the armrest to hold the arm you want it done on,” he explains. 

Doing as asked, Lance gets himself comfortable in the chair, as he knows it’ll be awhile before he can move again. When Keith slides a tray and his seat around next to Lance, he figures it’s now or never. “So...before you start stabbing me a million times, is it too much to ask if you wanna go grab something to eat together after this?”

Keith shakes his head with a smile, cheeks still dusted pink. “We’ll see if you still feel the same way by the time I’m done here. If so, sure. I could go for a burger and some fries.”

“It’s a date,” Lance replies, relaxing fully as Keith gets to work.


End file.
